It’s been an exciting time to be running Marlay recently. First, Paul Sinton-Hewitt (parkrun’s founder) made a guest appearance a few weeks ago. A got a five-high and a handshake. Then last weekend, they celebrated their 500th event. I wasn’t in photo and there wasn’t cake but that’s understandable given they would have had 688 runners plus volunteers to feed.
Last week I was thrilled to complete the parkrun obsessive challenge. Which is the achievement you get for completing 50 parkruns in a year.
It’s a tough ask, although New Year’s Day and Christmas Day mean you can miss up to four Saturdays if you complete those. I made it to 45 in 2018 and 2019 and then 46 last year. But around September I realised I had only missed two so far and if I could be consistent, I could get to 50.
That made for some nervous times with multiple storms, including Storm Darragh cancelling 16 of the 20 parkruns near me including all of my locals. But I made it! In fact, I managed to end the year on 52. parkrun has been such an important anchor over the last 18 months and I’m looking forward to plenty more in 2025.
On Sunday, Iveagh Sports Ground launched their junior parkrun. I was quietly hoping there would be cake. There wasn’t, but there was lots of very friendly and encouraging volunteers. The course is two laps on grass. It’s flat but still has a few lumps to make it interesting.
Another weekend trip. This time, our first one to County Wexford. Gorey is three laps of a the local park. It’s flat, a nice park and a cafe with toilets in the centre for post-parkrun snacks. Ticked off another G for Staying Alive and my 59th for Cowell Club. Lovely to be there for their 8th birthday and thank you to all of the volunteers.
Another letter ticked off the alphabet challenge! This week I completed the University of Galway parkrun, earning me a valuable “U” and completing the spell “parkrun” challenge. It’s a nice course: a few laps around the field then an out and back along the river before one final lap of the field. Very flat and surface was nice enough for my fast shoes.
I finished the namely challenge! I was the last letter I needed to spell my name. It’s a lovely parkrun: along the banks of the estuary, trail, plenty of shade and friendly.
Thorp Perrow is an estate near Bedale. The parkrun is almost entirely off-road. There are bits of track but moatly you’re running across grassy fields. It makes it quite aoft underfoot, and therefore hard work, and I imagine much more difficult in winter. So not a PB course but a beautiful one. Nice cafe, too.
Oldbridge parkrun takes place at Oldbridge House. It’s a country estate which now forms the Battle of the Boyne Visitor Centre.
The course is all off-road. Most of it is grass with some on dirt. It’s a lovely course in several ways: off-road, pretty flat, around some beautiful fields and a single lap (although some of it does form an out back bit). The main limitation would be if you like road or if you want a PB: the narrow tracks through the long grass mean there is not much overtaking room.
I’ve been ill with one of those colds that you it is difficult to believe is “just a cold” because it wiped me out. This was my first attempt at a run back and I was around 35 minutes, and even that felt like a slog. But I got around and ticked off my second O, leaving me with only one letter left for the name badge challenge.
Got my Q!
Queen’s parkrun takes place at Queen’s University’s sports fields and consists of a couple of laps around the campus. Nice, enough, not too hilly. Friendly place. I got chatting to one of the staff at Queen’s and it turns out he does computing. There were also tonnes of tourists, including a woman from Finland so I tried out some of my Finnish, which mostly went well.
This is a lovely parkrun in the grounds of Kilkenny Castle. But hill, but nothing too steep, and I was familiar with most of the route having done Kilkenny Triathlon last year. There is an outdoor cafe in the grounds, too, but they could use a public toilet.
I needed a letter K for both the alphabet challenge and spell your name challenge, so this ticked a lot of boxes.
I managed to make it into the background of one of the photos by accident:
